Ginni Rometty, chairman, president and CEO of IBM, said during a May 24 keynote address at the VivaTech Conference in Paris that the company plans to commit $30 million over five years to the Call for Code Global Initiative.
Brand developer David Clark Cause, IBM, the Linux Foundation and the United Nations Human Rights Office launched Call for Code May 24 as an annual competition that will invite startups, researchers and developers to create technology solutions that support disaster relief.
Through the competition, the Call for Code organizers hope to encourage technology developers to leverage artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud computing, data analytics and internet of things to create applications focused on preventing, responding to and recovering from natural disasters.
Call for Code asks participants to submit projects beginning June 18 through Aug. 31. After additional rounds of competition, a panel of judges will select the winning solution in October. The winning team will receive a financial prize and opportunities to scale their project into a real-world application.
IBM noted several examples of potential projects in the company's May 24 statement. For example, IBM suggested an app that analyzes weather data and supply chain information to alert pharmacies when to increase select supplies in advance of a major natural disaster.